Some thoughts from shelley on the ten commandments/alabama supreme court issue currently in the news.
There's been a lot of talk lately about about Roy Moore, the Alabama Supreme Court Justice who was removed from office yesterday for failing to follow a federal court order that he remove a Ten Commandments statue from the Alabama Supreme Court building. There's a lot of Christians all over the country that are rallying around this man and what he is doing. I, as a Christian, would like to speak out against him.
First, I would like to say that I don't necessarily think the federal court ruling was wrong. By allowing a Christian monument to be displayed in a building that is 100% about governemnt is opening a Pandora's box. If you have the Ten Commandments, you must also let Muslims make monuments to the Quoran and let Buddhists and Hinduis have there due space and time as well. A state court building is not the place for this kind of display.
Moving on, I agree with the removal of Roy Moore. He was given an order by a court that he was bound to follow because of his place in government. He is the Cheif Justice of a state's Supreme Court. By taking that office, he vowed that he would uphold the laws of Alabama and the laws of the United States. He did not do that. I understand that he felt his personal ethics and professional ethics were in conflict. But, instead of disobeying the order he was given, he should have stepped down from the office that he held. He can not disobey the law and expect to be able to keep his position.
I just wanted to get this all out of my system. I know many Christians see what happened to this judge as an attack on Christianity. I don't. I see it as the removal of a man who refused to do what his office and position of authority charged him to do. If the Cheif Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama does not have to obey the law, why do its citizens?